equally real at all stages of his life; specifically, the fact that a particular stage is present cannot be regarded as conferring on it any special status.

The inclusion of consequences in the conception of what we have done is an acknowledgement that we are parts of the world, but the paradoxical character of moral luck which emerges from this acknowledgement shows that we are unable to operate with such a view, for it leaves us with no one to be.

Any reductionist program has to be based on an analysis of what is to be reduced. If the analysis leaves something out, the problem will be falsely posed.

What we take ourselves to be doing when we think about what is the case or how we should act is something that cannot be reconciled with a reductive naturalism, for reasons distinct from those that entail the irreducibility of consciousness. It is not merely the subjectivity of thought but its capacity to transcend subjectivity and to discover what is objectively the case that presents a problem....Thought and reasoning are correct or incorrect in virtue of something independent of the thinker's beliefs, and even independent of the community of thinkers to which he belongs. (p. 71)

Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.

Leading a human life is a full-time occupation, to which everyone devotes decades of intense concern.

Perhaps the belief in God is the belief that the universe is intelligible, but not to us.